The present invention is related to an electrochemical processor, which comprises two electrodes of different electrochemical potential, which are bridged via an electrolyte. Upon, completion of the electric circuit between the two electrodes, the second electrode is oxidized and therefore changed in at least one physical parameter, e.g. the second electrode becomes transparent. The electrochemical processor is characterized in that the surface of the second electrode, which is in contact with the electrolyte, is partially covered with an electrically insulating material, wherein this material is adjacent to the electrolyte. Moreover, the present invention relates to the use of this electrochemical processor and a method of composing such electrochemical processor.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,023 describes an electrochemical display that comprises first and second electrode layers having different electrode potentials, an electrolyte layer overlapping said first electrode layer and forming a boundary with that first electrode layer and forming a boundary with that second electrode layer for completing an ionically conductive pathway between said first and second electrode layers, and said electrode boundary being movable together with the boundary of said second electrolyte layer extending the ionically conductive pathway from said first electrode layer in response to a flow of current between said first and second electrode layer for changing a visible appearance of the display. According to the special embodiments of the electrochemical display of the U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,023 both electrode layers are applied on a substrate and separated by a gap. An electrolyte layer, which is filed into this separating gap between the two electrodes and which partially overlaps the free surfaces of those electrodes is present for an electrical interconnection of said electrodes. However, most of the surface of the electrode layer, which is to be oxidized upon completion of the circuit pathway is exposed to a cavity inside that electrochemical display. Because of the fact that the electrolyte layer is an ionic conductor and present in the form of a paste or a gel or comparable liquid forms, the electrolyte layer is not totally rigid or solid, but exhibits certain viscoelastic properties and therefore can be distributed within the cavity, e.g. can be spread in an uncontrolled manner also on the surface of the electrode, which is exposed to said cavity. This uncontrolled distribution of the electrolyte can be affected by a plurality of factors, even by gravitation, if the electrochemical display according to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,023 is arranged in a way that the electrolyte can run into said cavity. However, this leads to a major drawback of this electrochemical display in a way that the reaction time of this display is dependent on how this display is arranged spatially. Also, the reaction time of this chemical display cannot be guaranteed to be constant e.g. upon mechanical impact. Therefore, a calibration of this system is hardly possible, which makes this electrochemical display rather unreliable.